TALENT and marketing agency IMGWorldwide has been sold toWilliam Morris EndeavourEntertainment in a deal believed tobe worth $2.3bn (£1.39bn).

The deal creates a global talentmanagement agency representingtop athletes including RogerFederer, Rafael Nadal and MariaSharapova, and Hollywood clientssuch as Christian Bale and MattDamon.

IMG’s sale was driven by thetrustee managing the estate ofTeddy Forstmann, whose privateequity firm Forstmann Little & Cobought IMG for $750m in 2004.

Yesterday’s deal represents morethan a doubling of this originalinvestment in less than a decade.

In October WPP chief executiveSir Martin Sorrell ruled out a bidfor IMG calling valuations of $2.5bntoo expensive.

IMG is home to stars including Taylor Swift (above) and Justin Timberlake

BY OLIVER SMITH

FTSE 100▲6,492.08 +5.89 DOW▲16,167.97+292.71 NASDAQ ▲4,070.06 +46.38 £/$ ▲1.637+0.010 £/€ ▲1.197 +0.015 €/$ ▼1.367 -0.010

FED SHOCKSSTOCKS INTOTAPER RALLY

Certified Distribution from 28/10/2013 till 24/11/2013 is 120,715

BY MICHAEL BIRD AND JULIAN HARRIS

WHAT THE FED SAID: Page 2

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BUSINESS WITH PERSONALITY

www.cityam.com FREE

THE BETTER SWEATERS OF CHRISTMAS 2013

ISSUE 2,035 THURSDAY 19 DECEMBER 2013

MARK KLEINMAN

See Page 13See Page 19

THE US Federal Reserve shocked markets last night by announcing atapering of its enormous monthlystimulus programme – yet stocksjumped thanks to the modest size of the cut and a notably dovish accom-panying statement.

From January, the Fed will purchase$75bn of mortgage and Treasurybonds each month, down from thecurrent rate of $85bn. It will reducethe amount it spends on both types ofasset by $5bn each.

In a poll conducted by Reuters lastweek, only 12 of 60 economists expect-ed the Fed to scale back its purchases this week. Most believedthe move would come next year.

Chairman Ben Bernanke, who is dueto step down from the role nextmonth, said he “consulted closely”with his expected successor – JanetYellen – over the move. Yellen “fully

supports” the reduction (known astapering), Bernanke added.

As news of the tapering broke, theDow Jones instinctively fell 0.4 percent, but almost immediately surgedback, breaking through the 16,000mark to close up 1.8 per cent at an all-time high of 16,167.97.

Despite the tapering of quantitativeeasing, the Fed also made dovishmoves, including an adjustment to itsforward guidance. The Federal OpenMarket Committee (FOMC) says rateswill now be kept at extremely low levels until “well past the time thatthe unemployment rate declinesbelow 6.5 per cent.”

Interest rates will be anchored totheir historic lows “especially” if theFed believes that inflation will be attwo per cent or below in the long-run.

“Tapering is not tightening,” saidBerenberg’s Christian Schulz, whodescribed the move as “Bernanke’sbaby step” due to its modest size.

“The Fed is keeping its interest rates

near zero and reinforcing its forwardguidance,” Schulz added.

All members of the committee votedfor the taper, except for EricRosengren, the president of theFederal Reserve Bank of Boston.Rosengren voiced opposition to themove, stressing that inflation is stillbelow the two per cent target, callingthe change “premature” until economic growth is secure.

The Fed’s announcement followedpublication, earlier in the day, of somepositive US economic data. Housingstarts jumped 22.7 per cent inNovember compared to the previousmonth – the sharpest increase sinceJanuary 1990.

And Markit’s flash purchasing managers’ index for USservices came in at 56, up from 55.9 inNovember. The US Senate also passeda two-year budget deal to ease auto-matic spending cuts and reduce therisk of a government shutdown

Entertainers and sporting starsbrought together in agency deal

JUMPER FOR JOY

THURSDAY 19 DECEMBER 20132 NEWS To contact the newsdesk email news@cityam.com

Unemployment drops toits lowest rate since 2009FOR THE first time ever more than30m people are employed in the UK,with statistics published yesterday alsoshowing unemployment at its lowestrate for four and a half years.

The official rate of unemploymentfell to 7.4 per cent in the August toOctober period, according to the Officefor National Statistics – 0.3 percentagepoints lower than during May to July.There were 2.39m unemployed peopleduring the period, down 99,000 com-pared to the previous three months.

And some economists believe thatunemployment may have alreadydropped as low as seven per cent.

The Bank of England has said it willconsider lifting interest rates whenunemployment sinks to seven per centor lower. Despite its senior officialsbeing at pains to explain that it maykeep rates anchored even if this condi-tion is met, falling unemployment israising expectations that monetarypolicy could finally be tightened.

“The single-month [unemployment]estimate for October was 6.98 percent,” Henderson economist SimonWard said yesterday. “The headlinethree-month rate, therefore, could hitthe Bank’s threshold in November orDecember – at least three years earlierthan suggested by its projections in theAugust Inflation Report.”

UK losing ‘courageous instinct’The UK is losing its “courageous instinct” on theinternational stage in what threatens to becomethe “most damaging” threat to armed forces inthe future, according to the country’s mostsenior military officer. The chief of the defencestaff, Sir Nicholas Houghton, warned onWednesday evening in a hard-hitting lecture tothe Royal United Services Institute that he fearedthe UK was at risk of stepping back from itsresponsibilities – and needs – on the globalstage.

NSA panel: surveillence overhaulA panel appointed by Barack Obama to review

electronic intelligence collection hasrecommended the government continue to haveaccess to phone records of US citizens suspectedof terrorism but that the data be held by private,not government, entities.

JPMorgan shoots instant messangerJPMorgan Chase’s investment banking co-headsbanned their staff from using multi-bank instantmessaging services on Wednesday, the latestsign of banks clamping down on a toolblemished by its use in market manipulation.In a memo to staff, Mike Cavanagh and DanielPinto said that – “effective immediately” – allstaff were “prohibited from participating inelectronic chats or instant messaging groupswith two or more other banks/dealers”.

Bupa buys stake in US travel insurerBritain’s largest non-NHS insurer has acquired 49per cent of Highway to Health, a Pennsylvania-based company that develops online health tools,including smartphone software for bookingappointments, as well as providing coverage forpatients.

EU could ban refillable electric cigsRefillable electronic cigarettes could be banned inthe European Union under an agreement toregulate the devices for the first time. Despiteintensive lobbying from the e-cigarette industry,an EU-wide ban could be imposed if at least threemember states prohibit refillable e-cigarettes.

William Hill to keep Gibralta baseWilliam Hill plans to maintain its online bettingbase in Gibraltar despite a tax clampdown thatwill cost it tens of millions of pounds.The company is one of many bookmakers thathas set up internet operations in Gibraltar,allowing it to sign up British gamblers whilebenefiting from a benign local tax regime.

Humber wind turbines approvedWork on a £450m plant to build offshore windturbines on the south bank of the HumberEstuary that will create thousand of jobs will startearly next year after the plans won governmentapproval. The developer is Able UK.

Fidelity plants flag in hedge turfFidelity Investments launched two "event-driven" mutual funds, the latest foray by the firminto a sector traditionally dominated by hedgefunds. The launch of the Fidelity Event DrivenOpportunities Fund and Fidelity Advisor EventDriven Opportunities Fund comes as alternativefunds continue to pull in a record amount ofinvestor cash.

AMC shares climb on debutAMC’s shares rose 5 per cent in their tradingdebut, about one year after the second largestmovie theater-chain in the US was acquired by aChina-based entertainment company.

THE BANK of England’s interestrate-setting committee is worriedthat a strengthening pound coulddisrupt the UK’s recovery.

Sterling has climbed fromaround $1.585 just over a monthago to $1.638, partly fuelled by animproving economic outlook andexpectations that the Bank willcome under pressure to lift rates.

The minutes of the Decembermeeting of the Bank’s monetarypolicy committee, releasedyesterday, said: “Any furthersubstantial appreciation of sterlingwould pose additional risks to thebalance of demand growth and tothe recovery.”

The minutes also confirmed thatall nine members of the committeevoted to keep interest rates at 0.5per cent and the stock of assetpurchases at £375bn.

AN IMPROVING PICTURE, YET WAGE RISES WERE STILL SUBDUED

OVER 30MPEOPLE ARE EMPLOYED

THE HIGHEST NUMBER EVER

22.1%LOWEST RATE OFECONOMICALLY INACTIVEPEOPLE SINCE 1991

BRITS WORKED

THAN A YEAR EARLIER (AUG-OCT)EXTRA HOURS PER WEEK

17.6m

ON A YEAR EARLIER

WAGES ROSE

(AUG-OCT) FAR BELOW INFLATION

0.8%

EMPLOYMENT RATES STILL VARY ACROSS DIFFERENT REGIONS AND COUNTRIES

60% 70% 80%

NORTH EASTNORTH WEST

YORKS & HUMBER

EAST MIDLANDS

WEST MIDLANDS

EAST

LONDON

SOUTH EAST

SOUTH WEST

WALES

SCOTLAND

UK

TOTAL WEEKLY HOURS WORKED970

950

930

910

201320122011201020092008AUG-OCT

Millions, seasonally adjusted

Strong sterlingworries dovishBank officials

BY JULIAN HARRIS

BY JULIAN HARRIS

Markit’s Chris Williamson added:“While the prospect of a repeat of sucha steep drop requires a large degree ofoptimism, it certainly means that, tech-nically speaking, a seven per centunemployment rate by the end of theyear is looking feasible all of a sudden.”

Britain’s employment rate reached 72 per cent in August to October, up 0.4

percentage points from May to July.From October to November, mean-

while, the number of people claimingJobseeker’s Allowance fell 36,700 to1.27m, the lowest since January 2009.

However, regular pay from August toOctober was up only 0.8 per cent compared to a year earlier, considerablybelow the rate of inflation.

WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING

david.hellier@cityam.comFollow me on Twitter: @hellierd

Allister Heath is away

A s the year comes to an endthere’s definitely cause forcelebration in London’s newissues or Initial Public Offering

(IPO) market. According to figures out today from

EY, the advisory firm, there were 14main market share listings this year,raising £5.2bn. That’s not exactly anavalanche of deals but the total repre-sents a significant increase in activitycompared to four IPOs during 2012and seven in 2011.

In addition AIM, the junior market,had a strong year, with 45 IPOs, upfrom 32 in 2012, as the market contin-ued to attract deals from overseas aswell as with domestic businesses.

EY’s chief economist David Vaughanargues that investor confidence hasreturned, boosted no doubt by theaverage share price growth to date of33 per cent since the newly floatedgroups’ initial placing price.

EDITOR’SLETTER

DAVID HELLIER

New issues make a strong comeback in the London market

Vaughan believes the healthypipeline of activity suggests that 2014“will be the strongest market we’veexperienced in a long time”.

So we go into the New Year in amuch more confident frame of mindthan we entered 2013, when we onlyreally had the success of RBS’s sale ofshares in Direct Line as a base to buildon.

2013 saw the flotation of a numberof companies from different sectors,from estate agency to insurance toAfrican finance.

If there is a grumble, it is that techcompanies are still not drawn to theLondon capital markets. Just look atthe decision by King, creator of CandyCrush Saga, to head for the US as evi-dence of that.

The London Stock Exchange haschanged its rules to make it easier fortech firms to list here, so it would begood to have these tested in 2014.Perhaps Zoopla, the house-buying web-site, or JustEat, the takeaway food web-site, might be tempted.

And there’s an important proviso tothe optimism. So far the IPO market asa whole appears to have shrugged offpoor price performance post flotationfor annuity providers Partnership andJust Retirement, given the success ofso many of the other floats.

But realistic pricing of new issues iskey to retaining momentum and it’sworth remembering that confidenceis still probably only wafer thin.

is staying on. “I derive a lot of pleasurefrom being part of the team,” he toldme yesterday after announcing thedeal. He’s got no intention ofreplacing Inga Beale, who earlier thisweek left Canopius as chief executiveto become the first CEO of Lloyd’s ofLondon in its 325-year history. InsteadWatson will effectively lead thegroup’s transition.

GRAHAM MACKAYGraham Mackay, former chairman ofSAB Miller, the world’s second largestbrewer, has died at the age of 64. Thebusiness world was united in payingits tributes to him yesterday, withmany describing him as inspirational.Our thoughts are with his family.

INSURANCE DEALBids and deals, on the other hand,have been relatively quiet in 2013,with UK mergers and acquisitions attheir lowest level for eight years andstill below levels seen during the dotcom era 13 years ago.

Having said that, the year has closedwith at least one large deal beingagreed, the £594m acquisition of theLloyd’s broker Canopius by SompoJapan.

Canopius is 95 per cent owned by theprivate equity group Bregal so essen-tially the deal involves switching fromone dominant outside shareholder toanother.

There’s little overlap between SompoJapan’s business with Canopius so intheory it will be able continue itsunderwriting business much as it is.

Michael Watson, who led the man-agement buyout of the group in 2003,

Sterling has gained against the dollar

Dec

1.65

1.64

1.63

1.62

1.61

1.60

1.59

£

n The Fed’s board members now think

that unemployment will drop slightlymore in 2014, to as low as 6.3 per cent.

n Bernanke expects that tapering will

continue in “moderate steps” throughmost of next year”.

n The rate-setting Federal Open Market

Committee (FOMC) now expects that lowrates will remain in place untilunemployment falls “well past” 6.5 percent. Bernanke raised the prospect thatthe committee would focus more onother labour market indicators, addingthe potential for more discretion.

n The Federal Reserve has

contemplated a programme along thelines of the Bank of England’s Fundingfor Lending, but Bernanke believes thatUS banks “are flush with liquidity,”unlike their counterparts in the UK andthe Eurozone.

n Bernanke insisted that the Fed was

“not doing less” by tapering, reiteratinghis long-argued point that a reduction inasset purchases did not necessarily meantighter policy.

n The statement also stressed that both

employment and inflation, the two wingsof the Fed’s dual mandate, are belowlevels which the central bank iscomfortable with.

n The outgoing chairman was not

glowing about recoveries in the world’sother advanced economies: “The USrecovery has been better than most. It’snot been good, it’s not beensatisfactory… but given all the thingsthat we’ve faced, in retrospect it’s notshocking that the recovery has beensomewhat tepid”.

MICHAEL BIRD

BEN’S LAST RALLY

THURSDAY 19 DECEMBER 20133NEWScityam.com

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THE PUBLIC accounts committee hasaccused HM Revenue and Customs offailing to pursue big businesses for taxpayments, resulting in a £35bn tax gapbetween what is expected to be collect-ed and what actually comes in to gov-ernment coffers.

Chair of the committee MargaretHodge MP highlighted further flaws inthe way this figure is generated, as itdoes not include money that is lostthrough aggressive tax-avoidanceschemes. “HMRC holds back fromusing the full range of sanctions at itsdisposal. It pursues tax owed by thesmaller businesses but seems to lose itsnerve when it comes to mounting pros-ecutions against multinational corpo-rations,” she said. Hodge raisedconcerns about the amount of taxtaken in real terms, which was less in2012/13 than it was in the year before.The report also questions the govern-

HMRC not doingenough to taxbig businesses

BY KATE McCANN ment’s estimates for how much it canclaw back from money held in taxhavens. Ministers had expected to col-lect £3.12bn in unpaid tax from UKholders of Swiss bank accounts, but sofar has achieved just £440m. Hodgeadded: “We were astonished that HMRCcould not give any reasons for such ashortfall.” A spokesman for HMRCaccused the committee of “selectiveand misleading use of figures,” addingthat it “strongly disputes” the findings.

But Fiona Hotston Moore, tax andbusiness advisory partner at Cityaccountants Reeves, said the govern-ment is not treating small and largebusinesses equally. “HMRC certainlydoes appear to pick on smaller compa-nies and to be soft on multinationals,which are rarely prosecuted and gener-ally merely invited to make a tax contri-bution. What HMRC seems to rely on ispublic outcry rather than legal legwork to make its case. This is not goodenough,” she said.

THE CHRONIC lack of supply inBritain’s housing system will drivethe market again in the year ahead,pushing property prices evenfurther ahead of wage increases.

The Royal Institution ofChartered Surveyors (RICS) todayreveals their forecasts for thehousing market in 2014, projectingprices to climb by another eight percent. In comparison, the Office forBudget Responsibility expectsaverage earnings to rise by only 2.6per cent next year.

RICS suggest that house pricesrose by around five per cent in totalthis year, with just over a milliontransactions, expecting another

House prices to jump eight percent in 2014 as supply stays low

BY MICHAEL BIRD 1.5m in the new year. But this is stillbelow pre-crisis levels. London willtake the lead again, with pricesforecast to soar by11 per cent.

Housing starts are expected torise to 155,000, a 30,000 increase onthis year, but the figure is still farbelow the 300,000 level suggested bythe Future Homes Commission.

“While the number of new homesbeing built is now on the rise, it stillwon’t be anywhere near enough tomeet demand and we expect theproblem of insufficient housingstock to be the main driver behindprice increases over the next twelvemonths,” concluded Peter BoltonKing, RICS global residentialdirector.

Eurozone promises UK will notpay for failed banks in the blocBANK failures in the Eurozone willonly be paid for by banking uniongovernments and not by the UK,leaders promised in talks late lastnight.

The resolution mechanism beingestablished for the Eurozone andother participating states shouldmean that bank collapses are paidfor by lenders’ shareholders andcreditors.

BY TIM WALLACE But if there are any extra costsbeyond creditors’ ability to pay,governments will have to cough upbecause they have guaranteed savers’deposits up to €100,000 or £85,000.

For a transitional period –expected to be around a decade – thebanks’ home governments will be onthe hook.

After that the cost will be borne bythe EU, with non-banking unionmembers like the UK getting arebate.

It is understood that countries likeGreece and Italy are pushing for ashort transitional period.

But stronger states like Germanydo not want to shoulder the burdenfor other countries’ bank problemsand argued for a longer transitionalperiod.

Britain’s exemption should alsocover any legal bills, for instance ifshareholders and creditors try tomake claims against the bankingunion after any bank collapse.

CAR PRODUCTION in the UK was 3.6 per cent lower in November than a year ago, yet theSociety of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said yesterday that this was due to one-offfactors and that it expects output to hit 1.5m cars this year – for the first time in six years.

UK CAR PRODUCTION NEARS SIX-YEAR HIGH

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THURSDAY 19 DECEMBER 20135NEWScityam.com

THE FORUM: Page 16

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DEBATE: Page 17▲ ▲

THE RETAIL sector regained momen-tum at the beginning of Decemberafter a disappointing performance inthe two previous months, according tonew data, giving hope of a last-minutesales push ahead of Christmas.

Grocers, department stores and cloth-ing shops, which had seen sales fall inthe year to November, saw salesrebound strongly in the year toDecember, the Confederation of BritishIndustry (CBI) said yesterday.

Nearly half (48 per cent) of 106 firmssurveyed by the CBI up to 11 Decembersaid that sales volumes were higherthan a year earlier, while 14 per centsaid they were down, giving a balanceof plus 34 per cent.

“After a disappointing couple ofmonths, sales volumes in Decemberrecovered their sparkle, beating retail-ers’ expectations,” said Barry Williams,chairman the CBI survey panel.

The figures come after disappointingdata from advisory firm BDO onTuesday, revealed that like-for-like retailsales fell by 2.6 per cent year-on-yearduring the first two weeks of

British retailersrebound aheadof festive rush

BY KASMIRA JEFFORD December, driven primarily by a 4.5 percent drop in fashion sales.

The latest data from the British RetailConsortium for November, showingfootfall fell 4.2 per cent, also pointed toa subdued mood this year amongChristmas shoppers.

However retail industry expertsbelieve that footfall numbers will pickup this week as consumers, who havedelayed shopping, make a last minutedash to the stores.

Data out yesterday by Visa Europe pre-dicts that Monday 23 December will bethe busiest shopping day of the year,with some £1.2bn spent on high streets.

Visa Europe director Jeremy Nicholds,said: “The rush to shop online at thebeginning of the month will be mir-rored on our high streets on 23December, which we predict will be thebusiest day of the year.”

IHS Global Insight’s Howard Archeradded: “Given the squeeze on purchas-ing power, it is highly likely that manyconsumers have delayed much of theirChristmas shopping until late on in thehope of getting late bargains.”

THE EUROPEANCommissionyesterday said ithas launched aprobe into whetherthe UK’s plan tosubsidise theHinkley Pointnuclear plant inSomerset is in linewith EU state aidrules. EDF Energy,which is leading aconsortiumbuilding the £16bnplant, said it wouldengage fully withthe EC’s review.

EUROPE OPENS HINKLEY POINT SUBSIDY PROBE

BRITISH banknotes will get atough new makeover from 2016when plastic replaces thetraditional paper, enabling themto survive accidental spins in thewashing machine, the Bank ofEngland said yesterday.

The UK will be thelargest economyso far to adoptthe more durablepolymer material

Plastic bank notes get a thumbs upBY CITY A.M. REPORTER

SHADOW chancellor Ed Balls willtoday launch a review into areas ofgovernment spending that couldbe cut back to reduce the deficit, ifLabour wins the election in 2015.

In an interview in the FinancialTimes, Balls positioned himself aspro-business but didn’t give anydetail on how Labour wouldachieve a budget surplus, leadingto suggestions that he would raisetaxes. The shadow chancellor hascome in for criticism recently,leading some Labour MPs to callfor him to be replaced.

Balls’s plan to savecash, and himself

BY KATE McCANN

MARKS & SPENCER and a raft ofother major high street names werehit by downgrades from analystsyesterday amid fears thatdiscounting and low wage growthwill take its toll on spending thisChristmas.

HSBC and Oriel both slashed theirforecasts for M&S yesterday,warning that weak consumerconfidence and furtherpromotional activity was likely putpressure on margins.

Mothercare, Debenhams, Nextand Sports Direct also suffereddowngrades by Oriel, sending sharesin all the companies except thelatter tumbling into the red.

...but analysts cut forecasts amidfears discounts will hurt profits

BY KASMIRA JEFFORD“Life is clearly very tough at

present for the clothiers. Theweather has been decidedlyunhelpful and already most highstreet stores are discounting heavily(and more than last year). We expectthat ultimately the disappointmentswill come on gross margins ratherthan sales,” Oriel’s JonathanPritchard said.

UBS added to the gloom byremoving Debenhams from itspreferred list of stock, adding thatChristmas “raises some questions asto whether the department storemodel can operate withoutresorting to heavy discounting”.

The retailer has since come underfire for demanding a 2.5 per centdiscount off goods from suppliers.

for general banknotes, after 87 percent of respondents approved thechange in a public consultation.

The move will bring estimatedsavings of £100m over a decade. Itwill begin with five-pound notes in2016 at the earliest, with £10 notesarriving the following year.

Polymer notes were first adoptedby Australia in1988 and are nowin use in more than20 countriesincluding Canada,the homeland ofnew BoE governorMark Carney.Plastic banknotes

will be introducedfrom 2016

MARKETS: Page 14

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THURSDAY 19 DECEMBER 20136 NEWS cityam.com

JAPANESE insurance group NKSJ yes-terday confirmed its £594m deal tobuy Lloyd’s of London underwriterCanopius, becoming the latest firm tomake inroads into the City’s historicinsurance market.

NKSJ will buy Canopius, its biggestever acquisition, through its SompoJapan subsidiary.

The purchase means a windfall forBregal Capital, whose funds own justover 95 per cent of the company. Theprivate equity group has investedaround £188.5m in the firm since itstarted building its stake in 2003.

The remaining 4.6 per cent is ownedby 93 members of Canopius staff,including chairman Michael Watson.The employees will share £27.3m fromthe sale.

“We have a long-standing businessrelationship with the NKSJ Group andare very proud to become the specialtyinsurance platform of the one of thelargest insurance groups in Japan,”said Watson yesterday.

Japanese firmbuys Canopiusin £594m deal

BY MARION DAKERS Watson was this week given theextra title of chief executive, after IngaBeale announced she was leaving tobecome boss of the wider Lloyd’s ofLondon market.

NKSJ said the deal, at 1.5 times netasset value, will give it a foothold inLloyd’s as it hunts for more interna-tional business.

Canopius specialises in property,retail and global specialty insurance. Itfollows a growing number of Lloyd’sinsurers to attract takeover interest.

Tokio Marine will merge itsEuropean insurance unit with Kiln atthe start of 2014, having taken over thefirm in 2008.

Cathedral Capital was snapped up byLancashire Holdings this year for£266m, while Brit Group was boughtby Apollo and CVC in 2010 before sell-ing some of its UK units to QBE lastyear.

Equity Red Star, a Lloyd’sunderwriter specialising in motorinsurance, was taken over by New Yorkprivate equity firm Aquiline CapitalPartners in April.

Inga Beale (left) has departed Canopius to lead Lloyd’s, leaving Michael Watson in charge

NKSJ hired Macquarie to advise it on the£594m acquisition of Canopius, while MagicCircle law firm Freshfields worked on the legalaspects of the deal.

Bregal Capital, which is selling its 95 percent stake in Canopius, hired GC Securities andlawyers at Clyde & Co as advisers.

Macquarie Capital fielded teams in Londonand Tokyo, led respectively by financial

institutions group head Jonny Allison andArthur Ozeki, head of the Japan office.

Allison joined the bank as part of itstakeover of Fox-Pitt Kelton in 2009. Hepreviously worked on financial services M&Afor Dresdner Kleinwort. His financialinstitutions team advised on $8.8bn-worth oftransactions in the last financial year,including insurance group Tokio Marine’s$2.7bn purchase of Delphi.

Ozeki joined Macquarie in 2007 from UBS,where he ran the Japan M&A department.

GC Securities is a unit within reinsurancegroup Guy Carpenter that specialises in deal-making and corporate finance. It employsaround 20 staff in London and New York.

ADVISERS NKSJ’S PURCHASE OF CANOPIUS

JONNY ALLISONARTHUR OZEKI

MACQUARIE

DWP pensions cap plan in doubtn The government’s plans to cap pensionmanagement fees by next April have beendealt a blow, after The Regulatory PolicyCommittee deemed the impact assesment“not fit for purpose.” The cap, which wouldapply to those who are auto-enrolled into ascheme, was expected to be set at 0.75 percent. The RPC said the government had notproperly calculated the costs involved andhad failed to demonstrate why the capwould have no impact on the industry.

Zero hours contract consultationn The government has launched a 12-weekpublic consultation into zero hours contracts,in a bid to make them more transparent.Business secretary Vince Cable recognised theneed for contracts that allow employersflexibility and added: “People should havethe choice in how they work. But thisshouldn’t be at the expense of fairness andtransparency.” The consultation will look atending exclusivity clauses which preventpeople from working for other employers.

Facebook faces lawsuit over floatn Facebook chief executive MarkZuckerberg and dozens of banks involved inthe social network’s public offering in 2012will face a lawsuit accusing them ofmisleading investors about the company’shealth prior to its $16bn float. A US federaljudge said that investors would be able topursue claims that Facebook should havedisclosed internal projections relating tomobile usage of the service that couldreduce future revenues.

IN BRIEF

THURSDAY 19 DECEMBER 20137NEWScityam.com

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A FORMER BP senior engineer foundguilty of destroying evidence in rela-tion to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill isplanning to appeal the conviction, itemerged yesterday.

The engineer, Kurt Mix, was foundguilty of one of two counts of obstruc-tion of justice at a federal court inNew Orleans, after he was accused ofdeleting mobile phone text messagesand voice mails where he estimatedthe size of the spill to be larger thanoil major BP had said.

“Today in New Orleans, Kurt Mixwas rightly acquitted of one of thetwo counts he faced – and we willcontinue to fight until we receive thefull vindication that Kurt deserves,”said Mix’s legal team, Ropes & Gray.

“Rest assured we will use everyavenue to appeal this case until Kurtis fully exonerated.”

Former BP engineer toappeal oil spill charge

BY SUZIE NEUWIRTHThe infamous Deepwater Horizon

disaster in 2010, which left 11 peopledead and sent millions of gallons ofoil into the Gulf of Mexico, has costBP billions of dollars in payouts so far.

BP declined to comment on Mix’sconviction. Yesterday’s court verdictfollowed an announcement by BP ear-lier in the day that it had made a sig-nificant discovery in the US Gulf ofMexico in the fourth quarter, but alsotook a $1.08bn (£660m) hit from anunsuccessful well off Brazil.

The firm said that 2013 had been itsmost successful year for new fieldexploration for almost a decade, withnew exploration wells having a suc-cess rate of over 40 per cent. “We arevery pleased that both these frontierand core portfolios are starting todeliver and anticipate leaving theyear with nine further wells opera-tional, sustaining our recent momen-

tum into 2014,” said Mike Daly, execu-tive vice president for exploration.

In a separate statement, BP said thatit has completed its Whiting oil refin-ery upgrade in the US. The new102,000 barrel per day coker was start-ed up in mid-November and BPexpects it to ramp up processing fromthe start of 2014. Shares closed down0.02 per cent yesterday.

ODEY Asset Management, thehedge fund managed by seasonedstock picker Crispin Odey, doubledprofits last year after performancefees soared.

The 18 partners at the company,including Odey, shared the spoils ofa £55m profit for the year ending 5April 2013 according to its latestaccounts, up from £27.2m in thesame period last year.

The top earner, thought to beOdey, was awarded £14.2m for theyear, up from £9.4m in 2012.

Good year for Odey after fundturnover drives handsome profit

BY MICHAEL BOW Company profits were boosted bystellar investment performance andan increase in the number ofproducts being sold to investors.Three new funds – the Odey Swanfund, Odey Naver fund, and OdeyOrion fund – launched over theperiod and the company’s fundsoutperformed.

Overall turnover rose to £72.7mfrom £40m. Performance fees alonerose by 18 times to £36.7m. Thisfollowed a dismal 2012 whenperformance fees came in at £2.5m.

Assets under management alsorose to $8.3bn from $6.8bn.

THE BAIL-IN of Co-op Bank investorswas approved by the High Courtyesterday, the final stage in pushingthrough the bank’s recapitalisationwithout needing taxpayer support.

Under the deal hedge funds willtake around 70 per cent of the equitywith the Co-op Group holding theremaining 30 per cent.

Meanwhile retail investors will begiven bonds in the group, paying anannual income in line with theshares they are swapping.

Mark Taber, an investor who led agroup of 15,000 investors to push fora better deal, said retail investorsshould be given a more formal say inrestructurings in future.

“The reaction of bondholders tothe Co-op’s original plan forrecapitalisation without bondholderconsultation showed that voluntarybail-ins need to be structuredconsensually with all stakeholders,”said Taber in a letter to MPs.

Co-op Bank’sdeal gets HighCourt go ahead

BY TIM WALLACE

BP PLC

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WILL THE PLEDGE MAKE A DIFFERENCE?The Home Builders Federation pledge to mar-ket UK properties here first, before advertis-ing them abroad (or at least doing it at thesame time), may not make that much of a dif-ference in practice. After all, HBF’s own statis-tics show that overseas property sales helpboost development in the capital, where buy-ers are often reliant on mortgage offers whichexpire too quickly to take advantage of buy-ing off-plan. Overseas investors can afford tostump up the cash required to secure a home,which gives developers the capital they needto start work. According to statistics from theHBF, which surveyed the eight companiesresponsible for 44 per cent of new homes

built in London last year, nearly £2bn wasinvested from abroad. As a result, around14,000 affordable homes were built, cross-funded by private sales, £129m went to theTreasury in stamp duty payments (around£39,000 per transaction), and 16,000 jobswere created. Perhaps then it’s little wonderthat the pledge has received generous sup-port, despite it being voluntary and com-pletely unpoliced. Nevertheless, it will likelydo little to reassure those who are concernedabout figures for overseas sales in some partsof London, which were as high as 85 per centlast year according to estate agent LondonProperty Partners.

Housebuilders pledgeto end advance salesof homes overseasA TOTAL of 11 housing developershave signed a pledge to market theirproperties to UK buyers first, or atthe same time, as marketing abroad.

Concerns about properties beingsold to foreign investors who thenchoose not to live in them have led toclaims that many London streets areunoccupied while demand in themarket remains high.

Taylor Wimpey, BarrattDevelopments and Redrow have allsigned up to the voluntary pledge.

Stewart Baseley, executivechairman of the Home BuildersFederation, the body behind thepledge, said: “London has an acutehousing crisis and foreign buyers areplaying a vital part in helpingincrease the number of homes beingbuilt in the capital. However, theindustry wants to ensure that UK

BY KATE McCANN buyers have every possibleopportunity to buy the homes beingbuilt.” He added that without upfrontinvestment from abroad, manyaffordable homes would not get built.

The pledge comes after chancellorGeorge Osborne said in his AutumnStatement that a capital gains taxwould apply to overseas propertyowners who buy and sell in the UK.

Mayor of London Boris Johnsonwelcomed the news and repeated hispleas for mortgage lenders to extendthe length of their offer to ninemonths, to make it easier to buyhomes off-plan. “Whilst overseasinvestment is a long-standing andnecessary part of any global citieshousing market, it is important thathomes are not exclusively marketedabroad before the UK,” he said.

The government’s housingminister Kris Hopkins also welcomedthe announcement.

Odey’s outfit had a good 2012/13

There are concerns that UK buyers are missing out on opportunities to buy off plan

THURSDAY 19 DECEMBER 20138 NEWS cityam.com

SABMILLER chairman GrahamMackay, one of the most respectedfigures in the consumer goodsindustry, died yesterday morningfrom cancer.

Mackay, who was 64, worked atSABMiller for 35 years, growing thebeer maker from its South Africanconglomerate roots to become theworld’s second largest brewer. TodaySABMiller boasts over 200 brands,such as Peroni and Grolsch,with sales of $34.5bn (£21bn)a year.

SABMiller said JohnManser has been appointedacting chairman by the boarduntil a successor is chosen.

“Graham was one of themost inspirational andsuccessful leaders ininternational businessby any measure,” saidManser yesterday.

After joining the

business in 1978 Mackay rose up thecompany’s ranks to become chairmanin 1992.

He helped steer the consolidation ofthe brewing industry through a stringof deals, including South AfricanBreweries acquisition of US-basedMiller Brewing in 2002 for $5.6bn(£3.4bn) in cash and stock to formSABMiller. Mackay became chief exec-utive in 1999 when the company listedon the London Stock Exchange, untilApril this year when he took a medical

leave of absence following surgeryon a brain tumour.

Mackay resumed his duties aschairman in September but hiscondition worsened in November,

and he took a further leave.He died peacefully onWednesday morningsurrounded by his fam-ily.

BITCOIN fell to its lowest pricesince October yesterday after Chinatook steps to block its citizens frommaking investments in the digitalcurrency.

China’s central bank extended itsBitcoin ban to payment providersthat service BTC China, China’slargest Bitcoin exchange, stoppingthe country’s citizens from buyingthe currency.

Prices on Bitcoin exchanges

Bitcoin falls under $500 as Chinacloses its doors to digital traders

Bitcoin peaked at $1,200 on 5 December before declining to its current low

BY OLIVER SMITH around the world fell from $700 tobelow $500 on the news, with theMtGox exchange seeing pricesrecover to around $570 last night.

“We essentially got notice fromour third-party payment providertoday that they will discontinueaccepting payments for us and newdeposits,” said Bobby Lee, chiefexecutive of BTC China.

Authorities in the country areconcerned that people use Bitcointo bypass China’s strict capitalcontrols.

ENERGY firm Centrica hit the top ofthe FTSE 100 yesterday morning, afterit agreed to sell its Texas gas-firedpower stations to asset managerBlackstone for $685m (£420m) andreturn the proceeds to shareholdersvia a share buyback next year.

“Residential retail supply is key toour North American business, andwith sufficient generation capacity inTexas, we can support ourdownstream business throughcontractual arrangements, ratherthan asset ownership,” said BadarKhan, president and chief executiveof Direct Energy, Centrica’s NorthAmerican subsidiary.

Shares in the firm, which owns bigsix supplier British Gas, pared gainsto close up 1.7 per cent.

Centrica sellspower plants inUS for £420m

BY SUZIE NEUWIRTH

Centrica PLC

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Chairman GrahamMackay, aged 64

BY OLIVER SMITH

SABMiller chairGraham Mackaydies aged 64

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THURSDAY 19 DECEMBER 201310 cityam.com

cityam.com/the-capitalistTHECAPITALIST Got A Story? Email thecapitalist@cityam.com

NO ONE could deny Christmas is in fullswing – drunken revellers are fallingout of pubs in festive onesies, the Tubehas a whiff of Baileys, and Boots hasall but sold out of Alka-Seltzer. But forthe City, Christmas isn’t the same as itused to be – extravagance is outlawedand the parties, downsized.

“There is a hangover from the reces-sion – it’s like there has been a refor-mation in the City and a puritan equiv-alent has emerged,” Ranald Macdonald,owner of City hangout Boisdale, toldThe Capitalist.

“While we’re as full as ever,big spending is taboo andwe’re not selling as much ofthe most expensive wine andchampagne.”

The Capitalist has heard thatbanks and other large Cityfirms feel that the exorbitantspending of the past is notacceptable. Where thereused to be company-wideChristmas bashes, now the banks arescaling back and asking staff

City’s Christmas partieshave lost their sparkle

to celebrate in small groups. “Christmas parties are being viewed

as a reputational risk,” a source at oneof London’s foreign banks told The Cap-italist. “There were once large, divisionalparties with no budgets, but this yearwe were given £40 per head and toldto celebrate with our teams – generallyfive people or less.”

There’s a fear among firms, especiallybanks, that the media will catch windof their party plans and use them

against them. According toour source, one of the big

Theheady days are

over

EDITED BY GABRIELLA GRIFFITH

four banks insisted all festive partieswent through compliance to ensuretheir locations could not be deemed“flashy”.

But it’s not the same the world over.“I’ve heard from international bankersyou can spend far more in New York –five to 10 times more – without it beinga problem on expenses,” said Macdon-ald.

So what’s the answer for our party-loving City slickers? Well, the old guardare sticking together and enjoying pri-vate Christmas dos.

“I used to work at BZW [formerly Bar-clays’ investment arm], which hostedbrilliant staff parties,” Mervyn Metcalf,managing director at Dean Street Ad-visers, told The Capitalist.

“We still have an annual BZW Christ-mas party even though it was sold 15years ago. Despite being hosted at therather grand Savile Club, everyonethere keeps the BZW fun spirit alive.”

So fear not dear City-ites, fun is stillto be had; you just need to know whereto find it.

Most Enterpising AwardDragon Associates’ card notonly spreads good cheer butcould drum up business too.

Most FrighteningThe Which? pressoffice has been

taken over by elves.And they’ve sent

this card.

←

←

Top 3 corporate Christmas cards:and the awards go to....

Most Corporate Deloitte’s festive cardincludes a graph and a

message about CFOconfidence. Yawn.

←

THURSDAY 19 DECEMBER 201312 NEWS cityam.com

CONSTRUCTION in the Eurozonebucked the region’s modest growthtrend in October, with production con-tracting 1.2 per cent from the previousmonth.

The troubled sector is not followingthe Eurozone economies’ return tofeeble expansion, and has nowdeclined 2.4 per cent since the samemonth last year.

Construction production is stillbelow levels seen in 2011 and most of2012, and has declined by almost aquarter since its peak level before thefinancial crisis. In addition, poor pro-duction figures indicate that con-struction is less likely to contributepositively to GDP figures in thefourth quarter.

The figures show a clear divergencebetween different countries in theeuro area: while production droppedby 3.9 per cent in Spain and 1.1 percent in France during the year todate, Germany’s more buoyant con-struction sector held flat.

The IFO index of economic confi-dence also recorded robust sentiment

Building slumprolls on for euroarea economies

BY MICHAEL BIRD this month, with the headline figurefor Germany’s business climate risingto 109.5, up by 0.2 points fromNovember.

Any number over 100 indicates astronger business climate than in2005. The index for expectations alsorose to a higher level than expected,reaching 107.4.

“The IFO index points to a furtheracceleration in investment momen-tum. Strengthening German domes-tic demand should also help theEurozone crisis countries pursuetheir export-led growth strategies suc-cessfully,” added Berenberg’sChristian Schulz.

Capital Economics’ own assessmentof the French economy suggestedthat a third recession may be narrow-ly avoided in the fourth quarter.

James Howat, of Capital Economicsadded: “The economy’s underlyingproblems mean that GDP growth in2014 will probably fall short... AsSpain and Italy’s first and secondlargest export market respectively,France’s sluggish recovery will under-mine these countries’ abilities togrow out of their debt problems.”

INDIA’S central bank unexpectedlykept its policy interest rate on holdyesterday, yet maintained its toughrhetoric against surging inflation,warning it would act any timeneeded even if the economycontinues to struggle.

The Reserve Bank of India’sdecision to keep the repo rate at7.75 per cent surprised investors.

“I want to emphasise that we arenot being soft on inflation,” saidgovernor Raghuram Rajan.

“It shouldn’t be taken that we’reon hold. We are waiting for data.Hence as the data come in, we willreact appropriately.”

India’s centralbank holds rate

BY CITY A.M. REPORTER

THE COST to insurers ofcatastrophes almost halved toabout $44bn (£27bn) this year,despite a doubling in deaths causedby events such as Typhoon Haiyan,Swiss Re said yesterday.

Haiyan was the event causing thehighest loss of life this year,resulting in the death of more than7,000 from some of the strongestwinds ever recorded when it struckthe Philippines in November.

But Swiss Re noted the bill forinsurers was likely to be lowbecause few of those affected hadcover.

Catastrophe billhalves in 2013

BY CITY A.M. REPORTER

THE SCOTTISH government’s planfor independence includes a £1.3bnhole, the Treasury claimedyesterday, ramping up London’scampaign for a no vote in nextyear’s referendum.

A plan published last month byHolyrood argues an independentScotland would have a lowernational debt and lower budgetdeficit as a proportion of GDP thanthe remainder of the UK.

As a result Scottish politicianswant to use some of that financialspace to spend more, giving morechildcare to parents, cutting the air

Westminster attacks Scotland’sindependence finance claims

Alex Salmond laid out his plans for independence last month, including some tax cuts

BY TIM WALLACE passenger duty tax and cuttingcorporation tax by threepercentage points to make thecountry more attractive tobusinesses.

These would be partially fundedby cutting defence spending.

The Treasury in Londonyesterday argued the spendingpromises more than outweigh themoney saved on defence, leaving a£1bn hole to finance each year inthe first parliament after a yes vote.

However, the Treasury numbersdo not take note of Scotland’slower borrowing figures and sogreater room to be flexible withthe finances.

Tullow to plug and abandon welln FTSE 100-listed energy explorer TullowOil yesterday said it plans to plug andabandon a Cote d’Ivoire well after hittingwater below the oil accumulationdiscovered at a nearby well, reducing thesize of the find. “The…well has efficientlyidentified the likely depth of the oil watercontact and we are reviewing the resourcerange and our future monetisationoptions,” said Tullow’s explorationdirector Angus McCoss.

Pallet maker RM2 to float on Aimn Pallet manufacturer RM2 yesterday said itplans to launch an initial public offering onAim, which will raise £137.2m to finance theexpansion of its production capacity. Thecompany expects to start trading on 6January 2014 with an initial marketcapitalisation of £278.3m and is the largestfloat on Aim in a year. RM2 designs, makesand supplies pallets that are used in thesupply chain of sectors, such as packaging.Cenkos Securities is adviser and broker.

Darty shares boosted as sales risen Darty’s recent turnaround have boostedthe French electrical manufacturer asoperating profits for its first half rose 25.6per cent to €15.2m, the company saidyesterday. Revenue rose 1.8 per cent on alike-for-like basis sending its shares up 3.5per cent. The company also announcedplans to sell it Turkish unit to concentrateon its core businesses in mainland Europe.It is in exclusive talks to buy French retailwebsite Mistergooddeal to boost onlineexpansion.

IN BRIEF

THE TROUBLED Spanish bankingsystem recorded an increase in itsproportion of bad loans duringOctober, rising 0.3 percentage pointsto 13 per cent.

The proportion of non-performing loans in the financialsystem has now reached anotherrecord high, raising furtherquestions about the health of thecountry’s banks.

During October, total aggregatelending in Spain fell to €1.469trillion (£1.23 trillion), but the sharecategorised as “doubtful debtors”increased to €190.97bn, a €3bnincrease from September.

Spanish banking system postsrecord proportion of bad debt

BY MICHAEL BIRD In a recent assessment of theEurozone’s recovery, CapitalEconomics’ Ben May noted thatsuch debtors are likely to be anongoing hindrance to economicgrowth: “Non-performing loans –which have risen sharply – areunlikely to have peaked, especiallygiven the pressure is growing onsome banks to declare hidden lossesin advance of next year’s EuropeanCentral Bank asset quality reviewand stress tests.”

According to the Bank of Spain,doubtful debtors are classed as anycredit for which an interestpayment or some portion of theprincipal owed has been overdue forthree months.

BWIN.PARTY yesterday reported apositive outlook for 2014 withgrowth expected in the US.

The gambling company also saidthat trading in the 11 weeks sincethe end of September 2013 was in-line with its expectations. Its shareprice rose 8.4 per cent to 125.4p onthe news.

In 2014 Bwin expects the FIFAWorld Cup will see increased bettingvolumes along with the company’sexpansion in areas of the UnitedStates where gambling rules havebeen relaxed.

After becoming the online poker

Shares in Bwin.Party jump 8pcafter bullish growth forecast

BY LUKE JARMYN and casino market leader in NewJersey last month, Bwin said it isfocused on producing a muchimproved mobile offering for 2014.Mobile currently accounts for 25 percent of daily revenue.

It also announced its USmarketing and launch-related costswere between €7m (£5.8m) and €10mfrom its online poker and casinoapplications.

Gross profit margins in 2013 forthe group are set to be between 16and 17 per cent.

Non-executive chairman, SimonDuffy, is to stand down in May’sannual meeting after three years inthe post.

GERMAN travel group Tui AG,which owns a majority stake in TuiTravel, yesterday vowed to pay itsfirst dividend since 2007 afterposting a surprise profit.

The firm said it made a €4.3m(£3.6m) profit in the year to the endof September, beating forecasts of asmall loss, while underlyingearnings rose two per cent to€762m. Turnover rose from €18.3bnto €18.5bn.

Boss Friedrich Joussen said hiscost-cutting measures were startingto deliver, though writedowns andjob cuts had cost €57m in the year.

The German firm’s hotels arm

Tui’s German parent restores itsdividend as cost cutting pays off

BY MARION DAKERS posted flat turnover of €826m,while its cruises business enjoyed a13 per cent jump in revenues to€261m.

Tui AG held merger talks with TuiTravel earlier this year but decidedagainst a deal. It holds a 54.5 percent stake in the London-listed firm,which last week said profits were up13 per cent.

“Our good operating results andvirtually debt-free balance sheetenable us to pay a dividend to ourshareholders earlier thanpromised,” said Joussen in astatement.

The dividend announcementhelped push Tui AG’s shares up 3.82per cent to €11.68.

INDIA-FOCUSED energy companyEssar Energy yesterday reiteratedits positive outlook for thebusiness, after a recent fall in theshare price.

The FTSE 250-listed firm’s shareswent up four per cent yesterdaymorning in response to the news.

“Energy demand in India willcontinue to be strong for manyyears to come and I believe thatEssar Energy is well placed to meetthat demand,” said chairmanPrashant Ruia.

“Although our recent share priceperformance has been

Essar Energy rises as it reaffirmspositive outlook for business

BY SUZIE NEUWIRTH disappointing, our underlyingbusiness is strong and our futureprospects remain positive.”

The company, which owns theStanlow oil refinery in Cheshirealongside its Indian assets, saidthat it is currently trading in linewith expectations and its outlookremains unchanged.

Essar Energy has invested over$8bn (£4.9bn) in the business overthe past three years and is nowfocusing on improving itsoperational and financialperformance, through assetoptimisation and refinancingprogrammes. Shares closed up 1.2per cent yesterday.

THURSDAY 19 DECEMBER 201313NEWScityam.com

Ford warns new car launches willdent its profit growth next yearFORD warned yesterday that thecost of launching new vehicles anda deteriorating Venezuelaneconomy would dent its profit nextyear, news that sent the US’ second-largest automaker’s shares to theirbiggest one-day percentage drop inmore than two years.

The Detroit-based company saidits mid-decade target for a global

BY CITY A.M. REPORTER automotive profit margin of eightto nine per cent was also at risk.Ford expects a global pre-tax profitnext year of between $7bn to $8bn.

That is lower than the projected$8.5bn expected in 2013, which isset to be one of the most profitablein the company’s 110-year history,Ford said. Much of that amount -about $8.34bn – is estimated tocome from North America. It wasthe first time Ford has provided its

forecast for 2014 results.“Today’s announcement is Ford's

attempt to keep expectations incheck,” Stifel Nicolaus analyst JamesAlbertine said, calling 2014 a“transition year.”

In Europe, Ford expects theoverall market to improve. Once itgets beyond its restructuringexpenses of $400m in 2013 and2014, the company expects to beprofitable on the continent.

LONDON’S west end has unseatedHong Kong Central as the world’smost expensive office market, regain-ing the top spot it lost three years ago.

The cost of renting an office in thewest end has shot up by 14.3 per centin the past year to $259.36 per squarefeet, driven by a squeeze in supply ofnew space, research by CBRE outyesterday showed.

The property advisory firm said arenewed appetite from financialfirms such as hedge funds willing topay a premium for space in the mostprestigious areas also helped pushprices upwards.

Meanwhile the City held onto itsplace as the ninth most costly officemarket at $142.71 per sq ft.

However Asia continued todominate as the world’s mostexpensive office market. It occupiedsix of the top ten slots with HongKong Central in second place withrental space costing $234.30 per

London’s westend tops list ofpricey offices

BY KASMIRA JEFFORD square foot. Beijing’s Finance Street,Beijing’s Central Business Districtand Hong Kong’s West Kowloonmade up the final top five of theworld’s most expensive markets.

Overall occupancy around theworld rose 2.2 per cent during theyear, as the global economycontinued to recover.

“The growth of occupancy costs forprime office space in the past yearunderscores that even in a slowlyrecovering economy, demand for thebest space in the best locationscontinues to be strong,” said DrRaymond Torto, global chairman ofCBRE Research

The study also found that rentswere rising at the fastest pace in theAmericas driven by strong demand.

Boston (Downtown) saw a 15.4 percent annual increase in occupancycosts, largely due to high demandfrom technology firms. CBRE saidthis high demand, combined withlow vacancy rates, had givenlandlords leeway to up rents.

Low vacancy rates and demand from financial firms have pushed up costs in the West End

FedEx bullish for the full yearn FedEx raised its full-year earningsforecast yesterday but its quarterly resultsmissed forecasts. It sees full-year earningsper share growth between eight and 14 percent above last year, up from its previousforecast of between seven and 13 per cent.FedEx earned $500m, or $1.57 a share, in thesecond quarter ended 30 November, versus$438m, or $1.39, in the same quarter lastyear. Revenue at its express delivery unitfell to $6.84bn from $6.86bn last year.

SAC’s Steinberg found guiltyn Michael Steinberg, a top portfoliomanager at Steven A. Cohen’s SAC CapitalAdvisors hedge fund, was found guiltyyesterday of charges that he traded oninsider information. A federal jury foundSteinberg, 41, guilty on all five counts ofconspiracy and securities fraud he faced.Prosecutors said he traded on confidentialinformation that was passed to him by anemployee, who later admitted to swappingillegal tips with friends at other firms.

Complaints bodies beefed up n The government has announced fourbodies that have been given the power toreport problems in the financial servicessector to the Financial Conduct Authority.Which?, the Consumer Council NorthernIreland, Citizens Advice and the Federationof Small Businesses can make complaints tothe FCA which it must respond to within 90days. Sajid Javid, financial secretary to theTreasury, said it is vital consumers andbusinesses “have a stronger voice.”

IN BRIEF

DAME Patricia Hodgson wasyesterday officially confirmed as thenext chairman of Ofcom.

Hodgson, who started her careeras a producer and journalist, willreplace current Ofcom chairmanColette Bowe when she steps down atthe end of March 2014 after servingher full term. Hodgson, who projectmanaged the BBC’s switch to digital,joined the Ofcom board in July 2011and became deputy chairman inJanuary 2012.

Hodgson pickedas Ofcom chair

BY KATIE HOPE

I T wouldn’t be the final column ofa calendar year without somepredictions for the next 12months. Here are my top three:

Royal Mail will complete ajourney from being wholly-owned

by the UK state to wholly-owned by aGerman enterprise within little morethan 12 months.

Deutsche Post won’t get it deliveredcheap, mind you. Royal Mail’s shareshave close to doubled since being soldby the government in a deal valuing itat £3.3bn, and any buyer will have topay a significant premium to the pre-vailing share price.

That might mean a windfall for tax-payers’ remaining 30 per cent stake inRoyal Mail, but it could also trigger apre-election controversy about the for-eign takeover of one of the UK’s best-known companies.

Next year will be one of changefor Britain’s biggest retailers.

Justin King will finally hand over thereins at Sainsbury’s having delivereda decade of growth and a turn-around in fortunes.

But at Marks & Spencer, Tesco andWm Morrison, the chief executiveswill be nervously watching overtheir shoulders for any sign of ashareholder revolt over sluggish per-formance.

By the end of 2014, at least one ofthem will be gone.

It barely qualifies in the catego-ry of forecasting to say that

2014 will be another torrid year forbanks, but the escalation of a global

probe into foreign exchange manip-ulation will herald a new nadir forthe industry’s reputation.

That, and other ongoing probes,will herald the denouement ofJamie Dimon’s long reign at JPMorgan.

TROUBLES AT STANCHARTIt hasn’t been the best week fordirectors of Standard Chartered, theemerging markets lender.

For the last decade, it hasgenerated enviable returns forinvestors, provoking resentfulglances from some of its UK-focusedpeers.

So a recent profit warningprovided an unwelcome jolt to share-holders who have also been alarmedby – unsubstantiated – talk of ten-sions between Sir John Peace, chair-man, and chief executive Peter Sandsover the need for a rights issue.

The wobbles do not end there. This

week, it emerged that StandardChartered had shifted responsibilityfor its risk function from RichardMeddings, finance director, to MrSands at the request of thePrudential Regulation Authority(PRA).

That should provide no personalreflection on Meddings but it doesraise the question of why regulatorsperceive there to be a less pressingpotential conflict when risk manage-ment functions are overseen by thechief executive.

People close to Standard Charteredsay that frustrations with regulatorsdo not end there.

Its board, they say, wants more clar-ity from the PRA about the level oftop-quality capital that it is requiredto hold.

It also wants that guidance to bemore explicit in order to provideinvestors with greater certainty.

That would be welcomed by Sir

John, who said he would relinquishone of his trio of FTSE-100 chairman-ships by stepping down at Experian.

There is still no successor in placebut that, I’m told, will change earlyin the new year. Giving Peace achance will be easier at StandardChartered once that happens.

RACING POST IN PLAYAnd they’re off. Bidders vying to buyabout £180m of loans to the RacingPost are heading for the finish linethis week, but they may not get theresult they were looking for.

People close to the situation saythat a lofty valuation of the loans byUBS means they may end up underthe aegis of National AssetManagement Agency (NAMA), theIrish government agency.

Expect that to spark a tussle for theownership of the newspaper itself.

Mark Kleinman is the City editor of SkyNews @MarkKleinmanSky

INSIDETRACK

MARK KLEINMAN

My top tip for 2014: Deutsche Post will buy Royal Mail

LONDON has always had its sectorspecific hotspots. Broadlyspeaking, those looking forunderwriting advice should use

the Gherkin as their marker, while techgeeks sat-nav their way to SiliconRoundabout and hedgies head forMayfair.

The grand old townhouses of the StJames and its surrounds are a naturalhome for these discreet financiers,with a subtle gold plaque above the belloften the only sign that billions ofpounds in assets is being looked afterby those inside. For the last few yearsthey’ve been particularly quiet –keeping their heads down as thefinancial sector reasserts itself after thecrisis and shying away from flashypostcodes.

But now they’re back, and the race is

on to snare the prime locations, withhigh occupancy rates and strictplanning laws driving prices ever higher.But if rising rents are a sign of London’sburgeoning return to form, spare athought for our continental cousins.Cities in Spain and Italy dominated thelist of biggest fallers, with occupancycosts down more than 11 per cent in theworst hit.

It’ll be a while before firms over thereare cutting the ribbon on anywhere new.

BOTTOMLINE

ELIZABETH FOURNIER

Firms are willing to pay again tobe in the middle of the action

ENERGY regulator Ofgem yesterdaysaid it has hired Dermot Nolan asits new chief executive, effectivefrom March 2014.

Noland has been chairman at theCommission for Energy Regulationin Ireland since 2011 and acommissioner since 2008.

The head of Ofgem's marketdivision, Andrew Wright, has beenacting as temporary chief executivesince Alistair Buchanan steppeddown earlier this year.

Ofgem hires anew chief exec

BY SUZIE NEUWIRTH

1

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THURSDAY 19 DECEMBER 201315cityam.com

In association withYOUR ONE-STOP SHOP

BROKER VIEWS ANDMARKET REPORTS

LONDON REPORT

THE UK’s main equity indexsteadied in thin trade yesterday,with investors cautious beforewhat is seen as a tight policy

decision by the US Federal Reserve, andwith a sell-off in retailers putting a lidon any gains.

Strong US data, including yesterday’sforecast-beating housing starts, hasfuelled expectations that the Fedcould scale back its equity-friendlystimulus as soon as this month. Thatin turn has weighed on global stocks.

As a result, Britain’s FTSE 100 –whose companies make a quarter oftheir sales in the United States – hasfallen for six weeks.

The FTSE 100 closed up 5.89 points,or 0.1 per cent, at 6,492.08 points, itsgains stunted by tough technicalresistance around the 200-day movingaverage. Centrica was a top gainer, up

2.8 per cent after the energy companysaid it would sell its Texas gas-firedpower stations and use the money toextend its share buyback.

Sainsbury dropped 3.6 per cent andTesco lost 1.7 per cent. Marks &Spencer fell 2.4 per cent, hit by ana-lysts at UBS downgrading the stock.

Supermarkets helpto push FTSE downamid thin trading

Wall St surgeson Fed move

US stocks staged an explosiverally yesterday, driving theDow and the S&P 500 to all-time closing highs after the

Federal Reserve announced it wouldstart to unwind its historic stimulus.

While the Fed’s move came as a sur-prise to many in the market, it con-firmed that the US economy was onfirmer footing and put to rest thequestion of when the Fed wouldbegin to scale back its bond-buyingprogramme. “This is a vote of confi-dence in the economy andrepresents the first step toward mon-etary policy normalization,” saidDavid Joy, chief market strategist atAmeriprise Financial.

The Dow Jones industrial averagesurged 292.71 points or 1.84 per cent,to end at 16,167.97, a record closinghigh. The S&P 500 gained 29.65points or 1.66 per cent, to finish at1,810.65, also a record closing high.The Nasdaq Composite climbed46.384 points or 1.15 per cent, toclose at 4,070.064.

NEW YORKREPORT

MERLIN ENTERTAINMENTSBarclays has initiated coverage of the entertainment company with an “overweight’ rating and a390p price target. Past growth secured by strong brands in an expanding segment convinced theanalysts that the company could deliver long-lasting results.

Merlin Entertainments PLCp

12 Dec 13 Dec 16 Dec 17 Dec 18 Dec

360

362

356

354

352

358

1,445.0018 Dec

PETROPAVLOVSKCannacord Genuity reiterates its ‘buy’ rating on Petropavlovsk but lowers its target price to 90pfrom 190p. It expects large cuts to earnings and lower cash flow due to its recently announcedsignificant resource addition from its exploration programme.

Petropavlovsk PLCp

12 Dec 13 Dec 16 Dec 17 Dec 18 Dec

7577.5

70

65

6062.5

67.5

72.5

75.3818 Dec

To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com

BESTof the BROKERS

KPMGThe professional services firmhas hired Stephen Frost ashead of diversity. He wasformerly head of diversity andinclusion at the LondonOrganising Committee of theOlympic and ParalympicGames from 2008 to 2012.Prior to that, Frost worked atStonewall.

MizuhoThe securities and investment banking arm of the

Mizuho Financial Group has recruited Guy Reid asmanaging director and head of European debtsyndicate. He has over 15 years’ experience in capitalmarkets. Reid previously spent 11 years at UBS, wherehe ran public sector debt capital markets (DCM) andsat on its DCM executive committee.

Berwin Leighton PaisnerThe law firm has announced the appointment of LisaMayhew to head its employment, pensions andincentives practice. She specialises in complexemployment litigation, with particular expertise infinancial services. Mayhew joined BLP in 2010 fromJones Day.

The Co-operativeMark Rogers has joined the Co-operative Group asregional acquisitions manager. He has over 12 years’experience in the property industry. Rogers was mostrecently at Tesco Stores, where he was propertydevelopment manager. Prior to that, he worked forAFB Spar.

EvershedsThe law firm has named Paul Smith as chairman from1 May 2014. Smith is currently a partner at the firm,specialising in commercial dispute resolution,litigation and environment. He was formerly a clientpartner for DuPont.

Redefine InternationalThe property investment company has recruitedStephen Oakenfull as deputy chief executive. He wasformerly an analyst at DTZ Corporate Finance. Priorto that, Oakenfull was a management consultant atTurner & Townsend.

Threadneedle InvestmentsThe investment management firm has announced theappointment of Noel Luchena as a sales director forinstitutional clients in its Zurich team. He previouslyspent 15 years at Credit Suisse, where he was arelationship manager working with institutionalclients.

WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS Edited by Annabel PalmerCITY MOVES

To appear in CITYMOVES please email your career updates and pictures to citymoves@cityam.com

FTSE

18 Dec12 Dec 13 Dec 16 Dec 17 Dec

6,520

6,500

6,480

6,440

6,460

6,540 6,492.0818 Dec

DASHBOARDCITY

FEW would find it hard to spotthe difference between StokeNewington and Salford. It’scertainly more than 200 milesthat divides the North London

district and the regeneratingManchester borough, now home tothe BBC’s MediaCityUK. But earlierthis week, banks published figuresshowing that both these places arehotspots for small and medium-sizedenterprise (SMEs) borrowing.

The Salford postcode sector M7 4houses SMEs with more than £125min loans and overdrafts – the secondhighest in the country. Down south,the postcode sector N16 6 is the thirdhighest, having secured £122m in SMEfinance at the end of June this year.

The city of Salford is not the onlypart of the regions not finding it hard

WHATEVER the chances of alast-minute Christmasshopping spree, the retailclimate remains difficult.To assist troubled high

streets, the chancellor’s AutumnStatement appeared to make a valianteffort to address complaints aboutbusiness rates, long resented as anexcessive tax burden on retailers. Forthe first time ever, the uniformbusiness rate rise will be capped at 2 percent – beneath inflation. But all is notas it seems. Given the disastrousdecision to postpone the revaluation ofbusiness rates (where they are adjustedto reflect property values), the changesoverall are more of a sticking plasterthan a fix.

A number of measures were intro-duced to support ailing high streets.First, for retail premises with rateablevalues (RV) of up to £50,000, the ratesbill will be cut by £1,000 in each of thenext two years. This is welcome on thesurface. Pubs, cafes and restaurants willbe included, but betting offices, paydayloan shops and banks excluded. Some

cityam.com/forumTHEFORUM

Twitter: @cityamforum on the web: cityam.com/forum or by email: theforum@cityam.comAgree? Disagree? Got a sharp comment?The Forum wants you to join the debate. Top responses will be reprinted in The Forum.

16 THURSDAY 19 DECEMBER 2013

nJERRY SCHURDER &GRAHAM CHASE

may say there is nothing wrong withthat. However, EU rules bar companiesfrom receiving more than €200,000 instate aid across a rolling three year peri-od – equivalent to £56,000 per annum.There will therefore be a cap on reliefavailable for multi-site retailers, espe-cially if their business already receivesother forms of state aid, such asproperty in an enterprise zone.

Secondly, a 50 per cent discount frombusiness rates will be granted to thoseoccupying shops with a RV below£50,000 that have been vacant for atleast 12 months. The relief will last for18 months for those moving into suchproperties between 1 April 2014 and 31

March 2016. But this overlooks thepotential adverse impact on the take-upof shops between now and next April. Italso seems to create unfair competitionfor established tenants, who have to payunsustainable rates on their existingpremises, and face business being takenaway from them by new entrants withlower overheads due to this concession.

But the real problem comes from thegovernment’s decision to postpone the2015 rating revaluation by two years,billed as offering more certainty forbusiness. This is a hollow claim, as thetwo following examples demonstrate.

Menswear retailer Hackett has justopened at the former Ferrari store at193/197 Regent Street, having signed anew 15 year lease at a street-record ZoneA rent of £645 per square foot. The dealreflects significant competition in anarea where property rarely becomesavailable, and expenditure has been ris-ing rapidly – fuelled by tourism andoverseas investment.

However, Hackett’s annual businessrates bill will continue to be based onrental levels from 2008 – when Zone A

rents on the same property were just£278.50 per square foot. Hackett willface a rates bill on the ground flooralone of £285,000 per year, compared to£767,000 if the revaluation had goneahead. With two further floors includedin the lease, Hackett’s total savings onbusiness rates due to the delayed revalu-ation will be well over £500,000 a year.

Now consider the fortunes of a shop inHigh Street Canterbury, in the suppos-edly affluent South East. In 2007, therates payable were £45,154 per annum,which has risen to £51,744 in 2013. Butthe difficult retail climate has resultedin the rent falling by 44 per cent from£116,000 in 2007 to £65,000 by thebeginning of 2013. In 2007, rates payablerepresented 39 per cent of the shop’srental value. By early 2013, they repre-sented over 80 per cent. In many north-ern towns, the position is far bleaker.

Given that most prime retail propertyis owned by pension funds or publicly-owned property companies, this effec-tively means that pensioners and saversare subsidising the tax take of govern-ment through the rating system.

Importantly, the weak are subsidisingthe strong, as Central London benefitssubstantially, while elsewhere the retailindustry is on its knees because of thecancellation of the rates revaluation.

This is why leading industry groupshave called for the rating revaluationnot to be postponed. This has fallen ondeaf ears. The government’s last chanceto reconsider its disastrous decisionpassed with the Autumn Statement.

Shop vacancy rates currently stand ata record 14.2 per cent. The penalty ofempty property rates was brought in toforce owners not to hold propertyvacant for long periods. It is scandalousthat this regime has remained in place,even though the original rationale haslong since passed. Unfortunately, this isnow reflective of the government’sapproach to supporting a creaking andunfair rating system to ensure that thetax take does not diminish.

Jerry Schurder is head of rating at GeraldEve. Graham Chase is chairman of Chase &Partners, past president of RICS, and presidentof the Association of Town and CityManagement.

to secure bank funding, according tothis landmark release of lending datafor more than 9,000 postcodes,published by the banks for the firsttime this week. Locations in Cardiff,Birmingham, Glasgow, Yorkshire,Exeter, Milton Keynes, Shrewsbury,Aberdeen, Hereford and Newcastle-upon-Tyne all made their way into thetop 50 postcode sectors with the mostreported SME lending.

If you believed everything you read,

you might think banks don’t lend tobusinesses outside London. This vaststock of evidence shows that this isjust not the case. In fact, when youcompare the distribution of SMEsacross the country with this data, youfind that London and the South Eastreceive a lower percentage of bankborrowing than their percentage ofSME turnover. London has 29 per centof the country’s small and medium-sized business turnover, according tothe Department for Business. And yetour aggregate postcode lendingfigures show that the capital secured21 per cent of the published SMEborrowing.

It’s been a mammoth exercisepooling this data – which covers notjust business lending, but alsomortgages and personal loans. Lenders

have worked hard not to compromisecustomers’ confidentiality and toprotect the privacy of businesses aswell as individuals.

But is such incredibly granulardetail about who borrows what inEngland, Wales and Scotland actuallyof any use other than as brain fodderfor statistic junkies like me?

Well, more transparent marketsfunction more effectively. Somelenders have told me that they willinterrogate this data to see if there areparts of the country that are notreceiving the access to finance theyshould be. Imagine how useful itcould also be in helping governmentpolicy, or in supporting challengerbanks or other new lenders that arethinking about where to focus theirresources.

So I’m optimistic that thislandmark move to greatertransparency by lenders could allowanomalies to be spotted and, in time,lead to better-functioning markets.

However, I should add a note ofcaution – these figures must be seenin context. A northern postcode sectorwith low mortgage lending is notnecessarily evidence of a “North/Southdivide”. It may simply be because itrelates to a rural area with fewproperties. Similarly, a sector withlittle SME borrowing may be largelyresidential.

Postcode lending data could provereally useful to banks, businesses andsociety at large – but it must be usedsensibly.

Anthony Browne is chief executive of theBritish Bankers’ Association.

nANTHONY BROWNE

Why bank data transparency could lead to a better functioning market

Update yourself at

CITYAM.com

Government is making high streetssuffer and the situation may worsen

17THURSDAY 19 DECEMBER 2013

Airport debate [Re: It’s time to kick politicians out of the crucialdebate on airport expansion, Tuesday]The CBI recently noted that direct flights open doorsto new trade. We must act on airports, andHeathrow is the best option. It would be quicker tobuild, and be cheaper than a new Thames Estuaryhub. It would be more convenient, particularly withthe completion of Crossrail. But the airport debate isa political minefield, and Heathrow expansion ispolitically toxic. Opponents like Zac Goldsmith, forexample, have threatened by-elections. The authoris right: we must move forward. And to do so, wemust depoliticise the debate.Paul Wheeler

Would the author like to come round to my houseand spend a few nights here? He’d love it – beingwoken up at 4.40am by incoming flights, unable tohear what you’re saying outside on the pavement,no respite from the noise. I can’t recommend ithighly enough.Elizabeth Balsom

International business people do not want to flyinto Gatwick, and the two Heathrow schemes aremerely sticking plasters. The only option forserious consideration is Boris Johnson’s farsightedand exciting option.Phil Hicks

With plastic banknotes set to arrive in 2016,will cash soon disappear entirely anyway?

YESWhile there is a lot of merit in introducing plastic banknotes, they may notactually be relevant in 10 to 15 years. We are moving in the direction ofbecoming a cashless society, with non-cash payments predicted to overtakecash ones in 2015. We haven’t yet reached the tipping point for a cashlessexistence to be considered a “social norm”, but 10 years ago mobile bankingseemed a far off innovation; today it is commonplace. Retina scans, andfinger and hand print identification are now a reality in Spain and Brazil, andwill continue to become more mainstream. The next generation of bankingcustomers are sophisticated users of technology from birth, and will have acompletely different banking experience from the one their grandparentsenjoyed. The challenge for banks will be to ensure their systems are secureand customers have uninterrupted access to funding. If not, their customersmight start demanding access to old-fashioned cash again!David Sayer is global head of banking at KPMG.

David Sayer

NOAdrian Kamellard

The announcement by the Bank of England yesterday reconfirms the vital rolecash plays in our day-to-day lives, as well the industry’s commitment toensure payments are fit for the future. Last year, just over half of payments inthe UK were made in cash, demonstrating how important it still is. During theeconomic downturn, for example, we believe people returned to cash to helpthem budget. And our forecasts predict that cash will be around for sometime to come. Although its usage will drop by around a third by 2022, it willstill play a significant role. Ultimately, our future payments landscape will bedecided by consumer choice. Increasingly, we’ll choose to use a wider rangeof payment methods alongside cash, like mobile payments, cards or internetpayments. Which method we choose will depend on the situation we’re facedwith and what’s appropriate at that time. But claims that we are headedtowards a cashless future are premature.Adrian Kamellard is chief executive at the Payments Council.

nSTEVE WEBB

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Over the past year, 52,000 jobs have been lost in thepublic sector. 537,000 created in the private sector.@anthonybmasters

Fall in unemployment rate accelerating as economypicks up. Could be down to 7 per cent by mid-2014.@asentance

Miliband says he’d rather the rich paid less tax if theyearned less income. Economics of envy, not reality.@OliverCooper

2013 was a great year for Parliament. Speaker JohnBercow deserves some of the credit.@DouglasCarswell

BEST OF TWITTER

LETTERS to the editor

WE WANT TO HEAR YOUR VIEWSE: theforum@cityam.com | Comment: cityam.com/forum | @cityamforum

Printed by Trinity Mirror Printing, St Albans Road, Watford Herts, WD24 7RG

THIS week, the Institute forFiscal Studies told people bornin the 1960s and 1970s thatthey will be worse off thantheir parents when they retire.

This was mainly down to falls inincome due to the financial crash, andlower savings rates. But anotherreason is the long-term decline ofdefined benefit (DB) pensions.

Since 2007, the percentage of finalsalary pension schemes open to new orexisting members has more thanhalved. The latest figures show thatjust 16 per cent of schemes remainopen to new entrants, with the totalnumber of schemes down to around6,400 from around 8,000 just eightyears ago.

With figures like these, some arguewe should simply throw in the towel. Idisagree. I want to build a fairer societyand that’s why I am working to makesure people get better pensions. If wedo nothing, good quality, salary-linkedpension schemes could disappear alto-gether.

Today is the final day of the govern-ment’s consultation on reshapingworkplace pensions. I accept that someemployers will still close their DBschemes due to cost and volatility, butI also know many will want tocontinue to offer their staff qualitypensions.

We want to create a legal frameworkthat enables employers to choose moreflexible DB schemes. This will shareinvestment risks more equally, andhelp employers to keep offering thebest possible workplace pensions,including new forms of salary-linkedschemes.

For employees, these flexibleschemes will provide the certainty of apension where the benefits aredefined – such as being linked to salary– and the security that the promise isbacked by their employer. For employ-ers, the cost of these schemes will be

less volatile, and they will have muchmore flexibility over the type of bene-fits they can provide. Importantly, peo-ple will keep all the rights they havealready built up, and any new flexibili-ty would only apply to future accruals.

We propose removing statutoryrequirements for the indexation ofpensions in payment. Employerswould continue to bear the risks asso-ciated with providing a DB promise,but future inflation risk of pensions inpayment would be borne by thescheme member. The statutoryrequirement to index pensions is cur-rently capped at 2.5 per cent, so mem-bers already bear some inflation risk.

Making it easier to change schemepension age would help employerstake account of changing assumptionson longevity to limit their exposure toincreased costs. Let me reiterate – thesechanges would not affect the pensionrights people have already built up.But they will help stem the decline indefined benefit schemes.

Further, we will give employers theflexibility to pay additional, discre-tionary benefits above the DB elementto employees when the funding posi-tion allowed. We expect many employ-ers will continue, as now, to go beyondthe statutory minimum on indexationof pensions in payment and survivors’benefits.

After decades of decline in qualityschemes, we can simply sit by and donothing, or we can save what is bestabout British salary-related pensions,for the sake of future generations.

Steve Webb is minister of state for pensions.

We should not accept along-term decline insalary-linked pensions

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19THURSDAY 19 DECEMBER 2013

Here’s our pick of the classiestChristmas jumpers this winter

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LIFE&STYLE FASHION @cityamlife

Knitsthe seasonto be jolly

For Her: Lucille snowflakeintarsia jumper

£390, harveynichols.comUS women’s brand Alice & Olivia is

behind this Scandinavian design, madein a silver and cream viscose blend.

For Him: Denim GrimshawFair Isle jumper £120, website.com

Woven from a premium cotton,this Tommy Hilfiger jumper is

made all the warmer by ashawl collar.

For Her: Rampant sportingski jumper

£79, johnlewis.comDesigned with a crew neck and

ribbing, this wool blend skijumper is perfect for those who

hit the slopes as soon as they feelthe chill.

For Him: Onchan Fair Isle crewneck jumper by Tom Morris

£195, tommorris.comMade with 100 per cent lamb’s wool,this classic design is tasteful enough

to keep you warm throughout thewinter months.

For Her: Ted Baker Alexia FairIsle jumper

£99, johnlewis.comThe three-quarter length sleeves on this

bright yellow jumper keeps it feminine aswell as festive.

For Him: Maison MartinMargiela jumper

£535, mrporter.comBased on a traditional

fisherman’s jumper, this chunkycable knit is made from pure

cream wool.

For Her: Polar bear knittedjumper

£75, frenchconnection.comA knitted polar bear is the main

attraction on this knit,surrounded by spots of snow.

Festive in a subtle way, wintry inevery way.

For Him: Polo Ralph Laurenreindeer jumper £255, ralphlauren.co.uk

This cosy cotton blend should wardoff chilly breezes. It also features a

Nordic-inspired intarsia-knit design.

20THURSDAY 12 DECEMBER 2013 cityam.com

PLAYSTATION 4Sony | £349.99 hhhhi

SOME GAMES TO GET YOU THROUGH CHRISTMAS

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black FlagThe Assassin’s Creed franchise has beenrumbling on for years but the latestiteration promises something a bitdifferent – this time you take the role of aswashbuckling pirate pillaging his waythrough the lush Caribbean. The graphicsalone make this worth a look.

KnackThis on-rails adventure isn’t one forhardcore gamers but it will keep the kidshappy on Christmas Day. You control a robotmade of bits of floating metal that can growor shrink depending on the availableresources. It looks like a Pixar movie,although it’s nowhere near as fun.

Lego Marvel Super HeroesLego has been more successful than anyother toy manufacturer in rebranding itselffor the modern age. Its top-selling roster ofchild-oriented video games now includesMarvel Super Heroes – and it’s great fun.Play as all your favourite heroes as you crashthrough lots of blocky levels.

FIFA 14This is without doubt the most realisticlooking football sim ever created. Theplayers’ likenesses are better than ever andthe sense of weight and gravity is second tonone. There are moments when it really islike watching a match on the telly, butyou’re controlling it.

Killzone: ShadowfallKillzone isn’t exactly a classic of its genrebut if you crave a next-gen shoot ‘em up,this will stop you getting the shakes overthe festive period. It’s more of the same inrespect of its story – alien, space, war,blah, blah, blah. You get to shoot stuff andit’s quite fun. Simple.

Hands-on review: the new PS4It’s the most powerful console in the world – butis it the one you should buy this Christmas?

EARLY reports that Sony’s next genconsole is out-selling Microsoft’sXbox One now seem premature – thelatest figures have them locked in adead heat. While Microsoft haspinned its hopes on superior multi-media options and itsm o t i o n - s e n s i n gKinect, Sony hasdelivered acheaper, slick-er productwith moref i r e - p o w e runder thehood. Here’s ourhands-on review.

If console sales were based on looksalone, we could declare the war overtoday. The compact design is a gen-uine innovation, just the right blendof futuristic and discreet. The“power” and “eject” buttons are sosmall I couldn’t actually find themwhen I tried to switch the thing on(they are nestled in the tiny gap nextto the polished “Sony” panel). TheUSB controller ports are also out ofsight in the horizontal central canal.When you switch the console on, ablue light flashes across the top ofthe unit. The rhomboid design doesmean you lose around an inch and ahalf of shelf space, but it’s a slip of athing compared to the Xbox One soit seems churlish to complain (it’sstill bigger than the ultra-slim Wii U,though).

It’s a breeze; as close to plug-and-playas you can get in a unit that needs aninternet connection. The setup proce-dure is simple and you can seamlesslysync your PlayStation account withFacebook to import profile informa-tion. The inevitable system upgrade isalso significantly quicker than theXbox equivalent. From box to home-screen took ten minutes.

Given Microsoft is best known forbuilding operating systems, it shouldreally have the edge over Sony in the

interface stakes. It does. The PS4home-screen just doesn’t have theintuitive feel or visual clout of itsWindows 8-based rival. It takes a fewminutes to work your way aroundthe tiered options menus and theblue, swirly lava-lamp effect in thebackground may date badly. Havingsaid that, it’s by no means adisaster – it’s certainly streaks aheadof the bonkers, messy expanse ofNintendo’s Wii U interface.

Xbox controllers have tended to bebetter than PlayStation ones and,while the DualShock 4 is a markedimprovement on the last generation,it still isn’t as good. The main differ-ence is the addition of a touch-padabove the analog sticks, which is a

neat idea formenu navigation,but isn’t really utilisedby any of the crop of launchgames. It also comes with a built-in speaker that can deliver audioindependently of the main console,and coloured lights that make it eas-ier to distinguish between differentplayers. The sticks are slightly fur-ther apart, removing the possibilityof your thumbs hitting each othermid-game. However, after severalhours of continuous use, it stillfatigues the muscles at the base ofyour thumbs, which the Xbox con-troller doesn’t.

Part of the reason the PS4 is £80 cheap-er than the Xbox One is that it’s not

sold with the camera accessory as stan-dard (you can buy one for £54.99). ThePlayStation camera is more limited inits capabilities than the Xbox Kinectbut it’s programmed to respond tobasic voice commands and the facialrecognition feature works fine.

STEVE DINNEEN

GEEK SPEAK

@steve_dinneen

APPEARANCEhhhhh

SETUPhhhhh

CONTROLLERhhhii

CAMERAhhhii

POWERhhhhh

INTERFACEhhhii

Sony says the PS4 is the most power-ful console ever built. As ever, it’shard to judge just how good it is untilgame developers catch up with thehardware. If the graphics in the newAssassin’s Creed are a sign of thingsto come, it’s going to be awesome.

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£2,449 (incl. VAT)OR £68.00/MONTH FOR 36 MONTHS2

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1As of May 7, 2013. See http://www.tpc.org/17912Pricing quoted is based on IBM’s 0% System x Solution Finance offering (FMV lease). Terms and Conditions Apply. Offering availability subject to credit approval; for more details and full Terms and Conditions please visit: http://www.ibm.com/financing/uk/lifecycle/acquire/xsolutionfinancing.html Rates and offerings are subject to change, extension or withdrawal without notice. Prices include VAT at a rate of 20%.

IBM hardware products are manufactured from new parts or new and serviceable used parts. Regardless, our warranty terms apply. For a copy of applicable product warranties, visithttp://www.ibm.com/servers/support/machine_warranties. IBM makes no representation or warranty regarding third-party products or services. IBM, the IBM logo, Storwize, System x and Express are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies. For a current list of IBM trademarks, see www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml. Intel, the Intel logo, Xeon and Xeon Inside are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. All prices and savings estimates are subject to change without notice, may vary according to configuration, are based upon IBM’s estimated retail selling prices as of 10/10/13 and may not include storage, hard drive, operating system or other features. Reseller prices and savings to end users may vary. Products are subject to availability. This document was developed for offerings in the United Kingdom. IBM may not offer the products, features, or services discussed in this document in other countries. Contact your IBM representative or IBM Business Partner for the most current pricing in your geographic area. ©2013 IBM Corporation. All rights reserved.

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IBM Storwize® V3700

£5,061 (incl. VAT)OR £140.60/MONTH FOR 36 MONTHS2

PN: 2072S2C

2U form factor capable of 24 x 2.5" drives (up to 120 drives with expansion units)

Virtualisation of internal storage and thin provisioning for improved storage

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Optimised costs for mixed workloads by using IBM System Storage® Easy

22 TV & GAMES cityam.comTERRESTRIAL BBC1

SKY SPORTS 17pm Live World PDC DartsChampionship 12am NFL – AFootball Life 1am Capital One CupFootball 2am The Rugby Club 3amFootball League Gold 3.30amRingside 4.30am Capital One CupFootball 5.30am-6am FootballLeague Gold

SKY SPORTS 27pm Capital One Cup Football8pm The Rugby Club 9pmRingside – Review of the Season10pm Capital One Cup Football11pm Rugby Club 12am Ringside –Review of the Season 1am Squash2am Football League Gold 2.30amFIFA 3amWatersports World4am-6am Darts Gold

SKY SPORTS 37pm Premier League World7.30pm Live Greyhound Racing9.30pm Premier League World10pmWWE: Late Night – Raw12amWWE: NXT 1am

Thrillseekers 1.30am SingaporeMarathon 2.30am Premier LeagueWorld 3am Football’s Greatest3.30am Thrillseekers 4am Squash5am-6am Singapore Marathon

BRITISH EUROSPORT6.45pm Live Winter Universiade:Alpine Skiing 7.45pm Tennis: MatsPoint 8.15pm Sports Excellence8.30pm Equestrian 9pm LiveEquestrian 10.05pm StrongestMan 11pmWorld Series byRenault 11.45pm-12.30amWinterUniversiade: Cross-Country Skiing

BT SPORT 17pm BT Sport Live 7.30pm LiveConference Football 10pm Life’s aPitch 11pm UFC – Ultimate Insider11.30pm UFC Unleashed 12.30amNBA Action 1am Live NBA3.30am-6am Live NBA

SKY LIVING7pm CSI: Crime SceneInvestigation 8pm Obese: A Year

to Save My Life 9pm Dracula10pm AMoody Christmas: Danintroduces his new girlfriend to thefamily. 10.35pm Spa: Alison’s lovelife takes a turn for the better.11.35pm Chicago Fire 12.35am AMoody Christmas 1.10am Inside:America’s Toughest Jail 2.10amEmergency Abroad 3.05am Inside:America’s Toughest Jail 3.55amAirline USA 4.20am EmergencyAbroad 5.10am-6am Nothing toDeclare

BBC THREE7pm Great Movie Mistakes 20137.15pm Atlantis 8pm Don’t Tell theBride: Christmas on the Slopes9pm Christmas on Benefits 10pmHim & Her: The Wedding 10.30pmEastEnders 11pm Family Guy11.45pm American Dad! 12.30amHim & Her: The Wedding 1amChristmas on Benefits 2am Don’tTell the Bride: Christmas on theSlopes 3am Snog, Marry, Avoid?Christmas Special 3.30am-4amHim & Her: The Wedding

E47pm Hollyoaks 7.30pm How I MetYour Mother 8.30pm Big BangTheory 9pm FILMMax Payne2008. 11pm Rude Tube 12am BigBang Theory 1am How I Met YourMother 1.30am Cleveland Show2am Rude Tube 2.50am Glee4.15am-6am Ugly Betty

HISTORY7.30pm Pawn Stars 8pm Big RigBounty Hunters 9pm StorageWars: Texas 10pm AmericanPickers 11pm Storage Wars11.30pm Pawn Stars 12amStorage Wars: Texas 1amAmerican Pickers 2am-5amDuck Dynasty

DISCOVERY7pm Philly Throttle 8pm JungleGold 9pm Naked andMarooned: EdBares All 10pmWheeler Dealers11pm Auction Hunters 12am NakedandMarooned: Ed Bares All 1amYou Have BeenWarned 2amWhale

Wars 3am Naked andMarooned:Ed Bares All 3.50am You HaveBeenWarned 4.40am AmericanChopper 5.30am-6am The GadgetShow:World Tour

DISCOVERY HOME &HEALTH7pm Deliver Me 8pm HomesUnder the Hammer 9pmWantedDown Under 10pm CowboyBuilders 11pm Homes Under theHammer 12am Hospital Sydney1amWanted Down Under 2amCowboy Builders 3am LotteryChanged My Life 4am From Hereto Maternity 5am-6am Deliver Me

SKY18pm Inside RAF Brize Norton9pmMoone Boy 9.30pm RoadWars 10pm Trollied 11pm RoadWars 12am Brit Cops: FrontlineCrime UK 1am Brit Cops 2am CopSquad 3am Brit Cops 4am Dogthe Bounty Hunter 5am-6amAirline

BBC2 ITV CHANNEL4 CHANNEL5

SATELLITE&

CABLE

6pm BBC News6.30pm BBC London News7pm The One Show: Topicalstories from around the UK.7.30pm EastEnders; BBC News8pm The Great Train Robbery:The Flying Squad investigatesthe robbery. Jim Broadbentstars in the concluding part.9.30pmMrs Brown’s Boys10pm BBC News10.25pm Regional News10.35pm The Royle FamilyChristmas Special11.35pm This Week12.20am Skiing Weatherview12.25am-6am BBC News

6pm Celebrity Eggheads6.30pm Strictly Come Dancing– It Takes Two7pm Hairy Bikers’ ChristmasParty8pm CHOICE Alex Polizzi’sPerfect Christmas9pm The 12 Drinks ofChristmas10pmMock the Week – Again10.30pm Newsnight: Weather11.20pm Tudor MonasteryFarm12.20am Sign Zone: The RomaniansAre Coming? – Panorama 12.50amThis Is BBC Two 4am-6am BBCLearning Zone

6pm ITV News London6.30pm ITV News7pm Emmerdale7.30pm The Greatest Gift:Tonight8pm Emmerdale8.30pm New You’ve BeenFramed! at Christmas9pm Live Celebrity WhoWants to Be a Millionaire?10pm ITV News at Ten10.30pm ITV News London10.35pm Utopia12.35am Jackpot247 3am TheGreatest Gift: Tonight 3.25am ITVNightscreen 5.05am-6am TheJeremy Kyle Show

6pm The Simpsons6.30pm Hollyoaks7pm Channel 4 News7.55pm 4thought.tv8pm George Clarke’s AmazingChristmas Spaces9pm CHOICE EducatingYorkshire at Christmas10pmWhat Happens in Kavos11pm Gogglebox11.50pm Karaoke Nights12.45am 24 Hours in A&E1.45am Embarrassing Bodies: Backto the Clinic 2.40amOne Born EveryMinute 3.35amAPlace in the Sun:Winter Sun4.30amDeal or NoDeal5.25am-6.10amCountdown

6pm The Dog Rescuers6.30pm NewsTalk Live7pmWorld’s Strongest Man2013: Qualifiers: 5 NewsUpdate8pm Stop! Police Interceptors:5 News at 99pmMobs & Yobs: Caught onCamera10pm CHOICE Person ofInterest11pm Excessive CompulsiveCollectors 12am SuperCasino3.05am Red Sea Jaws 3.55amHouseBusters 4.20amHouseBusters 4.45am GreatArtists 5.10am Nick’s Quest5.35am-6amWildlife SOS

Fill the grid so that each block adds up to the total in the box above or to the left of it.You can only use the digits 1-9 and you must not use the same digit twice in a block. The same digit may occur more than once in a row or column, but it must be in a separate block.

COFFEE BREAK

Using only the letters in the Wordwheel, you have ten minutes to find as many words as possible, none of which may be plurals, foreign words or proper nouns. Each word must be of three letters or more, all must contain the central letter and letters can only be used once in every word. There is at least one nine-letter word in the wheel.

Place the numbers from 1 to 9 in each empty cell so that each row, each column and each 3x3 block contains all the numbers from 1 to 9 to solve this tricky Sudoku puzzle.

Copyright Puzzle Press Ltd, www.puzzlepress.co.uk

KAKUROQUICK CROSSWORD

LAST ISSUE’SSOLUTIONS

KAKURO

WORDWHEEL

SUDOKU

SUDOKU

QUICK CROSSWORD

WORDWHEEL

7 22 16

45

35

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35 23

24 12 11

38

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4 8 9

3

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16

5

33

32

14

22

11

14

13

34

16

11

6

29

39

17

18

17

13

5

15

17

ACROSS 1 Implement used to

sharpen razors (5) 4 With the mouth

wide open (5) 8 Military aircraft that

drops explosive devices (6)

9 Grip (5) 10 Lady Nancy ___,

first woman MP (5) 12 Suitable and

fitting (11) 15 Culinary ingredient

used to coat food (11) 17 David ___, singer

whose albums include Ziggy Stardust (5)

20 Bamboo-eating mammal (5)

21 Large stinging paper wasp (6)

22 Tine (5) 23 Domestic birds (5)

DOWN 1 18th Greek letter (5) 2 Remark expres-

sing careful consideration (11)

3 Explode with a bang (3)

4 Arab garment (3) 5 Express or

direct through movement (11)

6 Skill (3) 7 Uncanny (5) 11 Substance used to

flavour food (5) 13 State of equality (3) 14 Metal ring that

opens a can (3) 15 Early form of

modern jazz (5) 16 Ordered series (5) 18 Which person? (3) 19 Work unit (3) 20 Pin (3)

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3 1 8 1 2 3 14 8 6 9 3 9 8 22 4 8 7 5 9 1 6 31 2 5 2 1 9 87 9 8 4 8 9 7 6

1 7 2 35 7 9 8 6 4 9 87 9 4 1 2 2 12 5 8 9 3 7 1 6 41 2 6 2 8 3 7 93 8 9 4 9 8 6

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EBBC1 BBC2 ITV1 CHANNEL4 CHANNEL5

THURSDAY 19 DECEMBER 2013

ALEX POLIZZI’S PERFECTCHRISTMAS BBC2, 8PMThe hotelier presents a guide toentertaining over the festive period,showing how to transform a home intothe perfect seasonal environment.

EDUCATING YORKSHIRE ATCHRISTMAS CHANNEL4, 9PMA return visit to Thornhill CommunityAcademy to find out how the pupils’lives have changed since they werefirst filmed.

PERSON OF INTERESTCHANNEL5, 10PMThe Machine selects the social securitynumber of cab driver Fermin Ordonez,who is trying to raise money to get hisfamily out of Cuba.

TVPICK

THURSDAY 19 DECEMBER 201323

I am proud Novak invited me tobecome his head coach. I’m sure wecan achieve great things together

‘SPORT cityam.com/sport@cityam_sport

INTERIM Tottenham boss TimSherwood admits he is the dark overhis future after his tenure started indisaster last night with a Capital OneCup defeat at home to London rivalsWest Ham.

Spurs led until 11 minutes fromtime, through a ferocious volley fromstriker Emmanuel Adebayor, butHammers winger Matt Jarvis slammedan equaliser and substitute ModiboMaiga headed an 85th minute winner.

The late drama earned West Hamtheir second triumph at White HartLane this season and a semi-finalagainst Manchester City, but put amajor dent in Sherwood’s hopes oflanding the job permanently.

“I don’t know if I’ll be Spurs manag-er, I haven’t spoken to the chairman.We have to have a chat and see,” saidthe Tottenham coach, who stepped infollowing the sacking of Andre Villas-Boas on Monday.

“It has to fit me and the club. Theclub have to make the right appoint-ment. As you can imagine the list is aslong as your arm. There are a lot of bignames in the frame. It depends whothe chairman thinks is the right one.

“It’s new for me. I’ve enjoyed it. I’m

Maiga inflictsdebut disasteron Sherwood

trying to get the best out of them. It’sdifficult to get the message across ofhow I want to play in a few days.”

Jubilant West Ham manager SamAllardyce said his side sensedTottenham were there to be finishedafter Jarvis levelled the scores.

“We saw the shaken nerve ends ofTottenham when we scored,” headded. “We then went for the jugular.Our substitutes, who came on withfresh legs, exploited the spaces.”

Tottenham, restored to a 4-4-2 bySherwood, bombarded the visitors inthe first 20 minutes, Adebayor, for-ward Jermain Defoe and wingerAndros Townsend all narrowlymissing the target.

It was not until the 67th minute thattheir dominance paid – Defoe scurry-ing down the left before crossing forAdebayor to crash a flying volley pastgoalkeeper Adrian – and even then itproved insufficient.

Midfielder Matt Taylor teed up Jarvisto equalise and moments laterMohamed Diame swung in a crossfrom the right for Maiga to meet witha formidable downward header andplunder his first goal in a year.

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR ...............1WEST HAM UNITED ....................2

BY FRANK DALLERES

CAPITAL ONE CUP

SEMI-FINAL DRAWSunderland v Manchester UnitedManchester City v West Ham United

Ties to be played over two legs. Firstlegs 7/8 January, second legs 21/22

West Ham forward Modibo Maiga’s winning late header was his first goal for a year

A HAILSTORM stopped ManchesterUnited’s Capital One Cup quarter-final at Stoke last night before goalsfrom Ashley Young and Patrice Evraset up a last-four clash againstSunderland.

Players were called off for 10minutes when the downpourprompted referee Mark Clattenburgto halt play half an hour into thematch, with the score 0-0.

Young scored his first for 18months when he swapped passeswith Javier Hernandez and clatteredhome from the edge of the penaltyarea on 62 minutes. He then fedleft-back Evra, who used his lessfavoured foot to bend a gloriousshot into the far top corner.

United could face neighboursManchester City in the final.

Storm delaysUnited victory

BY SPORTS DESK STAFF

TENNIS world No2 Novak Djokovichas joined forces with six-timegrand slam champion Boris Beckerin a bid to reclaim top spot in therankings from Rafael Nadal.

Djokovic has hired the Germanas his head coach, following thepath taken by Britain’s AndyMurray, who has made his major-winning breakthrough afterteaming up with another formergreat, Ivan Lendl.

The Serb won the AustralianOpen and season-closing WorldTour Finals in London this year,but was outstripped by Nadal asthe Spaniard mounted aspectacular comeback from acareer-threatening knee injury,claiming the French Open and USOpen titles.

Djokovic hiresBecker as coach

BY FRANK DALLERES

IN BRIEFEx-Team Sky rider fails drug testn CYCLING: Former Team Sky rider

Michael Rogers has been suspended afterthe Australian tested positive for bannedsubstance clenbuterol in October, whilecompeting for new team Saxo-Tinkoff. Itcomes after Team Sky’s JonathanTiernan-Locke was charged with an anti-doping violation relating to 2012, beforehe joined the British outfit.

Journeyman Sannino succeeds Zolan FOOTBALL: Watford have named

journeyman Italian manager GiuseppeSannino as Gianfranco Zola’sreplacement. The 56-year-old, who wassacked by Serie A side Chievo last month,has previously coached 12 sides in hishomeland, including Palermo and Siena.Former Chelsea star Zola resigned fromthe Championship club this week.

Results

FORMER England cricket coach PeterMoores admits he is unsure whetherhis successor Andy Flower still hasthe motivation to continue in hisrole beyond the current doomedAshes tour.

But Moores insists that Flower,who has refused to commit beyondthe end of the Test series, is the rightman to inspire a response to losingthe urn this week – if he has themotivation.

“If he’s hungry, yes,” said Moores,who left the post in January 2009.“He’s the same as the players, you’vegot to have the hunger and desire inthis job, you’re representing thecountry. Andy plays his cards soclose to his chest, it’s difficult toknow. If he’s hungry, he’s goodenough, no doubt about it.”

Australia have released batsmen

Moores doubts England coachFlower has hunger to continue

BY FRANK DALLERES David Warner and George Bailey andall-rounder Steven Smith to play inlimited-overs Big Bash matches thisweek, having taken an unassailable3-0 series lead over England.

Bowler Ryan Harris has beenforced to apologise, however, after heposted expletive-laden messages onTwitter during celebrationsfollowing Tuesday’s triumph.

Harris, whose posts railed againstcasino doormen who werepreventing him attending a partylaid on by Aussie hero Shane Warne,said: “As I’ve heard many timesbefore, don’t tweet when you’ve hada drink. I made a silly mistake and Itweeted something I probablyshouldn’t have.

“I apologise to Crown [casino], itwas a silly thing to do – they let mein in the end, so they did the rightthing. Obviously they have to dotheir job, and they were doing it.”

NORTHAMPTON have been fined£60,000 for releasing wing GeorgeNorth to play in Wales’s 30-26defeat to Australia last month.

Premiership Rugby rules forbidclubs from allowing non-Englishplayers to take part in Testmatches outside the InternationalRugby Board’s designated window.

Saints have admitted the breachand will not appeal the fine. Theyhave previously cited anagreement with North, madewhen he signed earlier this year,that he would be allowed torepresent Wales when selected.

The issue could reoccur nextyear, as Wales have againscheduled a fourth autumninternational, against SouthAfrica, which is due to take placeafter the IRB’s cut-off date.

Northamptoncop North fine

BY FRANK DALLERES

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